SUCCESS!.. external DIY (do it yourself) GPU rig runs octane

[thwak]

Thanks for the update. I'm sure laptop users are quite happy about this!

[suhail_spa]

thanks for going thru this..
yeah...
although most can afford good desktops- but some still cant manage without laptops...
its a good solution and worked for me
cheers!

[juan]

thats awesome. could it work for desktops?

[suhail_spa]

yes...absolutely

thats awesome. could it work for desktops?

but it will add only one external GPU to your existing desktop.


you can order this kit:
PE4H-HP1A ver2.4
from here:
http://www.hwtools.net/Adapter/PE4H.html

then if you have space left in the existing cabinet- then add the PE4H-HP1A within the cabinet and upgrade the power supply to meet the additional GPU requirement

or

if you do not have space left in the comp cabinet (most likely..), buy a cheap cabinet, with around ~300W PSU, and connect the PE4H-HP1A kit externally- just like its done for a laptop.
(but also order a 1m long HDMI cable from the same link above)

the HP1A is especially for desktops- having spare PCIex1 slot..

and it works better with win7, 64 bit..
just check out the original thread for further reading/research
http://forum.notebookreview.com/gaming- ... ences.html

cheers!

[adrencg]

That things costs too much.

[suhail_spa]

yeah..maybe because there is no other supplier providing it..
but at least in my case, i was stuck with a 1800$ laptop- without an 'octane worthy' GPU..and Cubix was way too expensive (950$ + international shipment of over 350$ + custom duties over 15-25%)- it went relatively cheap for me..well ...relatively

[suhail_spa]

a bit more on the status update...
the rig works well... now m pretty used to it..

test renders of interiors...(free models taken from warehouse..)
rendered with pathtracing about 20min each, ~5000samples , approx. 81k triangles, 1.75-1.8 megasamples, around 3.5 samples/sec

high dof- in the foreground- intentional...to blur the low poly furniture in the background

just to test interiors out...i know it doesnt compare with the masters of archviz out there on this forum
cheers!

[jamestmather]

I'm interested in this : I'm tempted by homemade although have been setting up to get the GPU xpander (as I don't want to spend money and then have issues that I can't fix - although recent emails I've received from Cubix seem to suddenly suggest that their laptop xpander can only run ONE card - possibly two (despite the fact that their website clearly states that the laptop system can run up to four).

Then, last night, the latest email I receive tells me that NO current laptops Cubix are aware of can use four external GPU's - this contradiction with their main site has thrown me a bit. Has anyone ever used more than two external GPUs on a laptop system?

Slightly confused. Any and all feedback appreciated.

Thanks.

J.

[kevinshane]

OH MY GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!!!! It's amazing!!!! nice sharing and thank u so much

[Phantom107]

I usually work on the laptop, but as I don't have an Express Slot in my Dell XPS17, I've asked the ViDock support about a possible USB3.0 solution:

My support ticket:

Dear VT support,

While searching for an external GPU solution, I found out about the ViDock 4 Plus solution. I have an nVidia GTX275 card that I'd like to hook up to my laptop, and use the CUDA computing capabilities of this card for professional use.

This brings me to the following questions:

- My laptop (Dell XPS17 L710X) does not have an Express Port. Is it possible to connect the ViDock 4 Plus to USB3.0 instead? If so, is there any performance difference involved when doing this?

- When I use the GTX275 card on a desktop system, it can do CUDA computations for my architectural renderings, which are then sent back to the computer. In this situation, the card is used as a secondary GPU and does not have a screen plugged in. My question regarding this is: is it possible to utilize CUDA when using a ViDock 4 Plus with the GTX275 card mounted in it?

Support response:

Thank you very much for your interest! Here are the answers to your questions.

1) If your notebook has no EpxressCard slot, you can't use the current ViDock for the moment. We do want to build ViDock USB 3.0, however we can't develop it yet due to the technology and delivery. Maybe there is a chance to use ViDock through USB 3.0 to ExpressCard adapter in the near future even if we can't get the chip.

2) Yes. We have many customers to use ViDock for rendering without the additional display.

Sorry to be disappointing you!

Hopefully some sort of solution will become available in the future. USB3.0's bandwidth is probably too slow but who knows?